Authorization to Verbally Discuss Health Information

UPAN is please to announce that the Utah Department of Corrections has finished their process of developing the new “Authorization To Verbally Discuss Health Information” for inmates to use when they want to give a third-party person permission to speak with the Clinical Services Bureau (Medical) about their health information. The third-party person would be a family member or friend outside of prison, not in the medical profession that the inmate identifies on a form that has been developed and is available to the inmates through their case managers.

The form the inmate needs to use has been posted on the UDC’s internal website, where case managers will be able to access it and print it out for inmates.

It is to be used ONLY to grant permission for verbal discussions about an inmate’s health situation between a Clinical Services Bureau staff member or provider and the identified third party representative.

For physical copies of medical records, inmates still need to use the GRAMA form to request medical records; that form is also available from a case manager.

Acting Director David Worthington has designated a person at the Clinical Services Bureau to handle the calls from designated family members about an inmate’s medical situation.

The process will work like this:

1. Inmate requests the form from case manager, who prints it out for inmate.
2. Inmate fills out form which identifies the name of the third party being designated, including a phone number to contact them, and returns completed form to case manager.
3. Case manager notarizes form and submits it to the Clinical Services Bureau.
4. A designated staff member at the Clinical Services Bureau will contact the inmate’s designated person to confirm telephone number, set up passcode and provide telephone number the third-party will use to call for information. The staff member will have authority to either answer questions or get information.
5. Each authorization is good for 90 days. So if an offender has an ongoing or chronic medical conditions, they would be wise to renew the authorization every 90 days so it is in place in case something comes up. It is the responsibility of the inmate, not the designated third party representative, to renew the authorization in a timely manner.

UPAN doesn’t know how long it will take for the authorization process to occur once the incarcerated person submits the form to the case manager, but we are anticipating about a week, depending upon if the correctional staff from Medical can reach the designated third-party.

More information about the Clinical Services Bureau can be found here.

Contact information:
Clinical Services Bureau
P.O. Box 250
Draper, UT 84020
Telephone: 801-576-7114
Fax: 801-576-4051

Note: This is a re-post from our June 2015 newsletter we’re sharing again because it’s been affecting many inmate families recently.